High in Callous-Unemotional Trait Only versus High on Callous-Unemotional, Grandiose-Manipulative, and Daring-Impulsive Traits: A Multimethod Comparison

• In Event: Legal and Theoretical Perspectives on the Role of Biological and Psychological Factors in Crime and Criminal Justice

Abstract

The Callous-Unemotional (CU) dimension of the psychopathy construct has been deemed sufficient to identify youth with Conduct Disorder (CD) who resemble a constellation of personality traits, a pattern of severe antisocial behavior, and exhibit numerous deficits that hallmark adults with psychopathy. The aim of this study is to test this claim in a sample of 285 criminal justice-involved youth (ages 16 to 17 years) with a CD diagnosis. Participants completed questionnaires, diagnostic interviews, and computerized experiments to measures a variety of characteristics. The participants with CD were assigned to mutually exclusive groups based on their levels of CU, Grandiose-Manipulative (GM), and Daring-Impulsive (DI) traits. Preliminary analyses revealed a group of youth with CD who were (i) high in CU traits only (CU Only) and (ii) high on all three psychopathic traits dimensions ("Psychopathy-like"), thereby challenging the claim that youth with CU traits very often exhibit GM and DI traits. Importantly, youth in the Psychopathy-like (vs. CU Only) group exhibit more aggressive CD symptoms, proactive aggression, boldness, sensation seeking, and delay aversion, and lower levels of affective empathy. These findings tentatively suggest that one needs more than the CU dimension to identify youth with CD who closely resemble adults with psychopathy.

Authors

• Olivier F. Colins, Ghent University

• Henrik Andershed, Örebro University